Hendrik Yaputra, Jakarta – MBG Watch member Agus Sarwono is not confident that the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Nanik S. Deyang can solve the troubled governance of Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) from the beginning. He believes the first step toward improvement should be to temporarily stop the MBG program.
The government needs to take this temporary stop as an opportunity to make improvements, including improving governance, targeting beneficiaries, and strengthening transparency.
According to him, BGN has lacked clear standards and indicators in implementing MBG. BGN refers to the target number of beneficiaries in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). However, there are no clear indicators for those entitled to MBG. "Meanwhile, those beneficiary indicators do not exist at all," said the researcher from Transparency International Indonesia.
The coalition also questions the business processes in the implementation of MBG. He stated that the selection and assessment of foundations have not been transparent. The selection of foundations should use the e-Catalog scheme, especially the local e-Catalog. This means that SMEs would be more active. In the context of MBG, we do not find any SMEs thriving around the MBG kitchens, he said.
Public Policy Director of CELIOS Media, Wahyudi Askar, believes that corruption in MBG occurs because the project is controlled by rent-seekers. Many of the MBG kitchens are affiliated with the authorities.
He mentioned that a change in leadership alone is not enough. Nanik is still the previous leader of BGM, after all. "The program needs to be completely redesigned to be much more efficient. This should be done calmly, with good technocratic principles, not hastily," he said at the same location.
Tempo has contacted the Head of BGN, Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, regarding this matter. However, she has not responded.
Previously, President Prabowo Subianto inaugurated Nanik Sudaryati Deyang as the new Head of BGN on June 8, 2026. Nanik replaced Dadan Hindayana, who was removed from his position. Later, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) named the former leaders of BGN, Dadan Hindayana, Sony Sonjaya, and Lodewyk Pusung, as suspects in a corruption case related to the MBG program mismanagement at BGN during 2025-2026.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Investigation, Syarief Sulaiman Nahdi, stated that the investigators named the three suspects after obtaining sufficient evidence.
"DH, SS, and LP, based on the sufficient evidence obtained by the investigators, have been named as suspects," said Syarief during a press conference at the Attorney General's Office on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
The investigators charged the three suspects under Article 603 and Article 604 of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code. Syarief mentioned that the AGO started investigating the case a week ago. "The investigation process started a few days ago," said Syarief.
– Ervana Trikarinaputri contributed to this article
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2107844/mbg-watch-questions-naniks-ability-to-improve-free-meal-governanc